8:21 PM, March 28, 2014

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and best friend, former Lions coach Steve Mariucci, left, talk before the Spartans take on Delaware for their NCAA tournament game in Spokane, Wash., on March 20. / Rod Sanford/Gannett Michigan

NEW YORK — Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is careful to “never say never” and still could call an NBA city home before he hangs up his whistle for good.

But this week’s flareup involving Izzo and the Pistons is a story about media, not Izzo’s future.

There is no apparent substance to the Izzo-Pistons talk, yet on this afternoon an NBC Sports Radio host asked a Free Press reporter on the air if the fact that Izzo just turned down the Pistons means he’s done looking at the NBA.

It’s a big game of “telephone,” with an initial statement twisted beyond recognition after it’s whispered through a circle of people. “I went to the market for bread” becomes “I left the barber for dead.”

In this case, USA TODAY NBA reporter Sam Amick said this of Pistons owner Tom Gores and his team’s coaching situation in a video about league rumors this week: “One name that he’s expected to go after is Tom Izzo at Michigan State.”

That became a full negotiation, offer and decision to the ears of some, even though Izzo has gone out of his way this week to refute the idea that there’s been a hint of contact. Denials are one thing; Izzo’s bursts of frustration this week are another.

■ To Matt Shepard on WDFN 1130-AM: “First of all, I’m upset with the media, somebody is sitting in a basement making up stuff. It’s embarrassing to me and it’s embarrassing for the Detroit Pistons. … Nobody has contacted me in any way, shape or form.”

■ To national radio host Dan Patrick: “I’ve never met Tom Gores, I’ve never talked to Tom Gores. I think somebody, maybe Michigan fans, are putting that out.”

■ To CBSSports.com:” I don’t mind if somebody speculates; that’s OK, that’s your job — but when you tell me, ‘I know this guy’s talked to you.’ I haven’t talked to anybody. I want to make sure people know that.”

Izzo, whose team plays Virginia in the East Regional semifinal tonight, has had two public situations involving NBA offers. He turned down Atlanta in 2000 after winning the national title at MSU, then Cleveland in 2010 after the second of consecutive Final Four advances. He has also confirmed past discussions on some level with Minnesota, Toronto and Chicago.

Kentucky also reportedly had interest in Izzo in 2009 before hiring John Calipari. Izzo said this to CBSSports.com in a story today about his transparency in talking about other jobs: “There was a job a couple a years ago, we were playing to go to the Final Four, it was a college job. I was kind of being forced to make a decision that night, and it was one of the big jobs, I’ll just say that to you. I mean, I just, you know, there’s no way I was going to do that. Even if I wanted to I wasn’t going to jeopardize my team. This is part of my family. I haven’t been a five-year guy. I’ve been a 30-year guy.”

The latest speculation comes with MSU looking at another rebuild starting next season. Adreian Payne and Keith Appling are seniors, sophomore Gary Harris is a strong candidate to leave for the NBA, and junior Branden Dawson also could leave early.

Izzo missed on his top recruiting targets for 2014 — including Duke-bound stars Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones, a year after Jabari Parker picked Duke over MSU — and has a modestly regarded class on the way. Still, he has a major prospect for 2015 committed in big man Deyonta Davis of Muskegon, and he has been all over the Midwest this winter watching others, including coveted 2015 guard Jalen Brunson of Lincolnshire, Ill.

Yet ESPN analyst and former U-M player Jalen Rose said this week of Izzo: “Watching how Izzo has recruited recently, if you noticed, most of the top schools — Kansas comes to mind, Kentucky and now even Duke — they’re doing more recruiting of what we consider the one-and-done prospects. You notice that Tom Izzo hasn’t really gone heavily after those prospects. It seemed like to me he was gearing up for one last run.”

The truth is that Izzo doggedly pursued “one-and-done” 2014 prospects Okafor, Jones and Kansas commit Cliff Alexander, along with all the other recruiting he has been doing. The truth has mattered little this week.

Finally, on Thursday at Madison Square Garden, a TV reporter asked Izzo if he could give “the latest” on the Pistons job. By then, Izzo had moved on to throwing up his hands and having fun with it.

“Probably half of them would say, ‘Good,’ ” he joked of how his players would react if he left. “The other half would say, ‘Draft me.’ So either way, they love me.”